Setting the stage for benefit realization of healthcare IS:The voice of health professionals

• Main Authors: Svejvig, Per, Andersen, Povl Erik Rostgård
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Carr; Faroe Islands; Reeves; Saunders; Wyatt
• Online Access: https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/setting-the-stage-for-benefit-realization-of-healthcare-is(33a13263-2607-495f-bc4d-13ab1d2258ba).html; http://ifipwg82.org/content/oasis-workshop

The relationship between information technology and organizational performance has been a recurring theme in IS research (Kohli and Grover 2008; Melville et al. 2004). Given the enormous investment in IT the discussion on how to obtain value and payoff from IT has become very important for public and private organizations. Carr’s provocative article from 2003, “IT doesn’t matter,” claimed that IT had been commoditized and had no strategic significance, and even worse “studies of corporate IT spending consistently shows that greater expenditures rarely translate into superior financial results. In fact, the opposite is usually true” (Carr 2003: 49). Carr’s article has been rebutted by several authors (Brynjolfsson and Saunders 2010; Smith and Fingar 2003b). Smith and Fingar (2003b) argued that even though the technology has been standardized and commoditized, the business processes resulting from its use may turn out to be a source of competitive advantage. Brynjolfsson and Saunders (2010: 10) furthermore state that “using technology effectively matters more now than ever before” as IT is an important driver of innovation. The IT value debate has also diffused into healthcare ( Devaraj and Kohli 2000; Friedman and Wyatt 1997), and are closely related to a more general discussion about measuring the performance of healthcare systems (Murray and Frenk 2011; Reeves et al. 2011). The general discussion about IT value and the broader discussion in healthcare about measuring performance motivated us to start an action research project at the Faroe Islands. The Faroese health service (FHS) has finished the implementation of an integrated healthcare information system (HIS) and it is time for them to consider reaping the benefits, the subject of this action research project. The empirical study reported in this paper is from the first part of the action research project where we set the stage for benefit realization of HIS.